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Episode 401: Listen to Your Heart, and Also to These Listener Emails
Date March 7, 2014 Summary Ben and Sam answer listener emails about MLBAM’s new tracking technology and the future of scouting, nine-man rosters, baseball spoilers, and more. Topics * MLBAM tracking technology * Nine-man rosters * Last team to win a world series * All-sprinter player * Baseball spoilers * Baseball executive on-field interference Intro Jonathan Coulton, "The Future Soon" Email Questions * Chris: "MLBAM's new tracking technology...What are your thoughts on how this data might affect scouting? Would a player like Correa have a better chance to stick at shortstop because of new data available on his positioning, first step, routes, etc? Would teams be able to better position players to succeed once this data is available and married to batted ball profiles for hitter and pitching tendencies?" * Jordan: "If MLB's active roster maximum was 9 rather than 25, how do you believe GMs would set up their roster? Would it be made up entirely of pitchers who just fill in all the other positions when they're not pitching? Surely a guy like Prince Fielder would make any team's top 9 out of 25, but with his replaceable fielding and running is he right for a 9 man roster, or does his hitting and durability make him the MVP? Would teams constantly sign and release new pitchers? Some teams would be pitcher heavy and other teams would be hitter heavy. What happens when pitchers face position player pitchers? Are there consequences at the game strategy level or business level that I did not consider?" * Michael: "Assuming a blank slate starting this year, which of the 30 MLB teams would be the last to win a world series?" * Ken: "As someone who is catching up on Breaking Bad and hoping to avoid spoilers, I wondered how you guys felt about baseball spoilers. Would knowing the outcome of a game before you see it ruin your enjoyment at all, particularly with big games? Optional hypothetical: if you were to go 30 years into the future would you willingly look up all of baseball history of the 30 years in between, assuming you could not come back and profit from or share such knowledge?" * Jeff: "Every World Series the cameras during the broadcast show the reactions of the team executives seated near the team's dugout, usually within the first few rows. If the GM or President of a team were faced with a Bartman type situation where he could interfere with a foul ball that would allow them to win the game and possibly the World Series, would they? What would the repercussions be? On the one hand, they broke Major League Baseball rules by interfering with a ball in play. On the other, they would be allowing their team to win the game, generate all the great things that come with winning the World Series, they would cement themselves in baseball history (possibly in a negative way), but their name would be a verb forever, etc." Play Index * Inspired by the topic of pinch sprinters, Sam wants to find out the players who derived all of their career value from base running. * He examines players who were below replacement hitters, below replacement defenders, and above average base runners. * Setting a minimum of 600 career plate appearances, there are 33 players who meet this criteria that were +2 or better base runners. Notes * Ben thinks that the new MLBAM tracking data is indistinguishable or better than data provided by scouts. * Sam wonders if there will be a time when MLB will significantly limit the information teams will be able to use in-game. * The topic of Michael's question was previously discussed in Episode 231. * Sam, on time traveling: "Well, it's conceivable that if you're time traveling you might quit your job at Baseball Prospectus." * Neither Ben nor Sam think an executive would interfere with a play. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 401: Listen to Your Heart, and Also to These Listener Emails * Takeaways From our First Look at the Future by Ben Lindbergh * Billy Hamilton, Usain Bolt, and Whether 90 Feet is Still Enough by Sam Miller Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes